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Size and Soft Budget Constraints

Author

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  • Ernesto Crivelli

    () (University of Bonn, BGSE, Lennestr. 43, Bonn, Germany, 53113)

  • Klaas Staal

    (University of Bonn, IIW, Lennestr. 37, Bonn, Germany, 53113)

Abstract

There is much evidence against the so-called "too big to fail" hypothesis in the case of bailouts to sub-national governments. We look at a model where districts of di_erent size provide local public goods with positive spillovers. Matching grants of a central government can induce socially-e_cient provision, but districts can still exploit the intervening central government by inducing direct _nancing. We show that the ability of a district to induce a bailout from the central government and district size are negatively correlated.

Suggested Citation

  • Ernesto Crivelli & Klaas Staal, 2006. "Size and Soft Budget Constraints," Working Papers 2006-13, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifr:wpaper:2006-13
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Jürgen Von Hagen & Massimo Bordignon & Bhajan S. Grewal & Per Peterson & Helmut Seitz & Matz Dahlberg, 2000. "Subnational Government Bailouts in OECD Countries: Four Case Studies," Research Department Publications 3100, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
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    5. János Kornai, 2014. "The soft budget constraint," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 64(supplemen), pages 25-79, November.
    6. Wildasin, David E., 1997. "Externalities and bailouts : hard and soft budget constraints in intergovernmental fiscal relations," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1843, The World Bank.
    7. Seitz, Helmut, 1999. "Subnational government bailouts in Germany," ZEI Working Papers B 20-1999, University of Bonn, ZEI - Center for European Integration Studies.
    8. Eric S. Maskin, 1999. "Recent Theoretical Work on the Soft Budget Constraint," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 421-425, May.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Foremny, Dirk & Solé-Ollé, Albert, 2016. "Who's coming to the rescue? Revenue-sharing slumps and implicit bailouts during the Great Recession," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-049, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Karolina Kaiser, 2008. "Restricted Bailouts and the Commitment Problem in Federations," Working Papers 062, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    3. Wildasin, David E., 2007. "Pre–Emption: Federal Statutory Intervention in State Taxation," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 60(3), pages 649-662, September.
    4. Christos Kotsogiannis & Robert Schwager, 2006. "Fiscal Equalization and Yardstick Competition," Working Papers 2006-15, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations.
    5. Hikaru Ogawa & David E. Wildasin, 2009. "Think Locally, Act Locally: Spillovers, Spillbacks, and Efficient Decentralized Policymaking," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1206-1217, September.
    6. Dufrénot, G. & Frouté, P. & Schalck, C., 2010. "The French Regions’ Borrowing Behaviours. How heterogeneous are they?," Working papers 289, Banque de France.
    7. Levaggi, Rosella, 2010. "From local to global public goods: How should externalities be represented?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1040-1042, September.
    8. Ernesto Crivelli, 2012. "Local Governments’ Fiscal Balance, Privatization, and Banking Sector Reform in Transition Countries," IMF Working Papers 2012/146, International Monetary Fund.
    9. International Monetary Fund, 2011. "United Arab Emirates; Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix," IMF Staff Country Reports 2011/112, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Serhan Cevik, 2011. "Policy Coordination in Fiscal Federalism; Drawing Lessons From the Dubai Debt Crisis," IMF Working Papers 2011/147, International Monetary Fund.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    bailouts; soft-budget constraints; jurisdictional size; public goods; spillovers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics

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